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Ripstop Nylon and Poly has different characteristics and wear differently with time..but they do wear if not taken care properly.Someone else will chime in and write +100 words on their differences Or you can browse the old posts and have some reading on this subject which has been discussed before.As long as stored in a dry place as thief explained, they will serve you years and with time you will forget how worn out they are...Also with time, you will have a kite bag full enough to share your flying time within your kites which will extend their lifetime as you are not flying only one (unless you do have a favorite on that you always fly)Stored properly in their sleeves and dried completely it damp, cleaned or washed after some beach flying on the sea or on the sand, your kites will last long enough for you to have maxx fun.

Go and have fun, don't worry about them, you know you worked hard for them and as long as each fatal crash want to make you cry, that means you care for them and they will serve you years

well Im not top flyer. A lot of tricks Im learning. .. My point was how much year can stand one kite. I think it depense from sail material- nylon sail would stay longer then Icarex or Im wrong?

I am not a top flyer either...i have my favorite sport kites that i like....and one of them is soooo stretched out that i need to bump the frame up about a cm in each direction! (the skin is also carrington which loses its coating over time and also stretches like a rubber band!)

I saw Prism bag in store for colapsed kites. Hard plastic. How necesery is to keep kite in it because always leading edge should be colapsed. Look very practic.BUT Will it wear leaing edge when open and close leading edge with time? So bag is practic but wear Leaděng edge in colapse point is price? Do you use it?

I have the new HQ Proline bag. All my kites are stored with leading edges assembled in in their sleeves. The long ones.This is more "bulky" if you travel a lot but keeps the kite partly assembled and less folds when packing up.Don't worry much my friend, if you are serious about this sport, you will soon get more kites and a bag will be a must

For now if you don't have much kites, take your time to fold them with minimum creases, leaving some good gap between the upper and lower leading edges so that the pocket has less stress. Lower to upper, then to spine and carefully wrap the sail. Not around the spine but on it part (left on left and right on right)

I have that Prism hard case, but I've found that many of my dualies don't fold down small enough to fit in it. Off the top of my head, I can only think of the Zephyr, QPro and Exile squeezing in. Sad, because I'd like to take that case on scooter rides down to the field.

I've had kites that went probably 6-7 years of heavy flying - they didn't wear out, though, just got replaced by kites I liked better. I rarely fly on sand, so that might be one reason for the longevity.

Will it wear leaing edge when open and close leading edge with time? So bag is practic but wear Leaděng edge in colapse point is price? Do you use it?

flat answer is yes...you can wear out the leading edge by disassembling it each time....you will put more wear on the rod and the ferrule and on the sleeve too.....but if that is the only way you have to carry it around then go for it....everything on a kite is fixable...

... BUT Will it wear leaing edge when open and close leading edge with time? ...

Yes ... but it's not really the folding that causes the wear. I have UL's that were stored folded where the spars wore through the lighter wieght leading edge material. The raw cut end of carbon spars is very sharp and abrasive.

So if you plan to store and transport your kites with the leading edge folded always seperate the leading edges inside the sleeve by 2 inches or so, that's so the fold will be about an inch from the spar ends rather then tight against them and grinding on them. You could also sand those razor sharp cut edges just a bit with some very fine sandpaper to round them off some.

« Last Edit: May 24, 2012, 12:21 PM by mikenchico »

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